It's a Small World
by HesMines
Summary: PostIM2. Catching up with your wife's best friend pales in comparison to getting an exclusive interview with Tony Stark and his secret girlfriend. You're allowed to be more excited about the interview. How were you supposed to know 'Ginny' went by Pepper now? Pepperony from an outside perspective.


So, I have no idea where this plot bunny came from. I was actually writing something else when this appeared. Originally, I was going to have the actual dinner, with the beginning of the article at the end, but then this sort of happened. Seriously, this guy has a mind of his own!

Soooo...this is really Pepper/Tony from an outsider's point of view. An outsider who's actually closer than he thinks.

Disclaimer - I don't own anything except Richard and Mrs W.

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**It's A Small World...which just means there's nowhere to hide  
****By Richard Waters**

As you will all see from earlier in the paper, I'm just back from Malibu. Well, technically. I'm writing this as we fly from LA to Newark. So not quite home yet. And, as always, I have more to say than the interview itself tells. And, boy, is this one hell of a story.

(And yes, I am quite proud of my tan.)

When I got a text from head office to say I was to interview Tony Stark, I'm not going to lie, I may have freaked out. Just a little. After all, I dare any man to say he wouldn't have the same reaction if he got the opportunity to meet his man-crush (who also happens to be Ironman). There, I said it. I have a man-crush. So, like the good little reporter I am (oh look is that a pig flying past my window?) I called in for the details...after I could breathe properly again of course. And called Mrs. W to tell her the news.

_Read: ramble down the phone at a hundred miles an hour only to receive a 'hmm, that's nice dear, tell me about it when you get home, I'm kind of busy right now' in reply. _

Later she told me all she'd been able to make out was 'Tony Stark', 'Los Angeles', 'can you believe it?' and couldn't figure out if he had released a new gadget, was coming to visit New Jersey or dead. Nice one babe.

Apparently, he'd requested the interview himself after he'd seen a few of my articles. And it wasn't just an interview I was getting; Mrs W and I were invited to join Stark and his mysterious girlfriend for dinner at his mansion. All expenses paid, put up in a five star hotel, all courtesy of Stark Industries...I was pretty sure by the end of the brief the cleaners would have to scrape me off the floor.

Mrs W was excited about the trip for an entirely different reason. Now, let me remind you, Mrs W is from Maine. Known for its jagged, rocky coastline, the low, rolling mountains, the heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways...oh and don't forget the seafood. The seafood is amazing. But, the town Mrs W grew up in...well, it was a little anti-social. Tony Stark was some guy on some magazine who happened to be CEO of some big company. He had no impact on their lives (lets all take a moment to think about how wrong that statement is...) so he wasn't worth their interest. And even though Mrs W has been out of said town (which will remain nameless otherwise I will be murdered by my wife) for the best part of fifteen years, she still has that mindset. But, I digress. Mrs W was excited about our impending trip to LA for two reasons. The lesser reason – it meant she could go shopping.

But mainly she was excited because her best friend lives out in LA and this was a chance to visit.

Now, let's make this clear, I have only met this best friend three times. They have a girly week away every year, but the last time _I_ saw 'Ginny' was at our wedding ten years ago. She was the maid of honour. (She was also **blonde**. Trust me, it'll be important later.) So I could be forgiven for being more excited over meeting _Tony Stark_ than catching up with the mysterious Ginny. When I thought about the name, all I could come up with was the blonde woman from our wedding photos and the swirly handwriting she signed cards with. The Buddha that sits in our living room was her wedding gift – a private joke between the two women I still don't get. She works for some big company in LA. She had a boyfriend – the mountain of cards the two seemed to send each other every year had been signed 'Ginny and Tony' for the last six months – but she wasn't married. Mrs W was just glad that her friend had _finally_ settled down. All men will agree that I should be applauded for remembering all this and didn't have to face the wrath of my wife for forgetting something about her best friend.

The day of reckoning came and we boarded our first class flight to LAX. My nerves had mostly been brought under control, Mrs. W had bought what seemed to be a whole new wardrobe and the calls to the best friend had been made, with much squealing and giggling might I add. We were meeting her and her boyfriend for lunch at some French restaurant then playing tourist the day after the interview. It wasn't as monumental as interviewing Ironman, but Mrs W was happy and I'd heard the food there was amazing.

Fast forward to dinner, a car had been sent to pick us up and suddenly, it was real. Mrs W will tell you I started freaking out in the car. That's a lie. I merely...panicked a little. It's natural. However, as soon as we were at the mansion (trust me, this place deserves the title) any and all nerves were put at ease. Mr. Stark ("Please, call me Tony") opened the door himself and welcomed us with the same level of energy that you see from the multiple talk shows and press conferences. He is genuinely that charismatic and eccentric in real life. The first thing he did was offer us a drink, before apologising that Pepper was running a little late.

Pepper Potts: current COO of Stark Industries, former CEO ("she made me take the big chair back"), former PA and current girlfriend (I got the exclusive reveal – yay me!) of Tony Stark. For those of you who happened to fall down a hole in the last few years...or, you know, live in that part of Maine.

Anyway, Pepper was running late. Her last meeting had run over and then a crash on the Interstate about an hour before had brought all traffic to a standstill. It had started moving again a few minutes before we arrived, so she shouldn't be too long. Dinner would be a little later than planned – he was under explicit instructions to stay away from the kitchen – but he had permission to serve drinks and the appetisers that were in the fridge. Tony said all this with a smile, giving the impression that this was just a minor hiccup in the schedule. However, the fact he had live coverage of the accident playing on the TV in the background proves just how much had changed for him in the last year.

Not too long ago, every media outlet was running stories about Stark's kidnapping in Afghanistan. Most people (except those like my wife) will remember the determined figure that was Potts during that time as she faced press conference after press conference, never giving up hope as she repeatedly told us they were making progress in finding her boss. Just because they hadn't found him didn't mean hope was lost – it merely meant they knew where he _wasn't_. Since his return, Stark seems to be a changed man. In fact, that was what the interview was about; his reinvention of Start Industries and his new status as a one-woman man.

But there are more changes than those regarding the company. For one, the playboy seemed to disappear upon his return. In his place was a man who was throwing himself into his company with renewed vigour, shutting down the weapons departments and avoiding the female of the species – which was more worrying to observers than the first two. There were rumours of everything from PTSD to ED, but apparently that wasn't the case. That change had more than a little to do with a certain redheaded assistant.

"_Spending three months in a cave puts everything in perspective. The majority of my thoughts seemed to return to a certain PA [pause] and then I realised they weren't just centring on how badly she was going to kick my ass when I got home. It's always been her. I knew what I wanted, I just didn't know how to get it."_

Which is why we didn't see a new celebrity couple right away. And his erratic behaviour a few months ago, culminating in trashing his own birthday party? _That_ was the meltdown everyone had expected post-Afghanistan. He just did it on his own timescale. Now, with that firmly in the past, Stark and his company are moving forward with Ms. Potts firmly by his side.

And like I said further up the page, the changes were staggering. Before, journalists would never have been invited into his home for dinner. He would more likely take you to a five star restaurant, turn up late and you'd never know if he'd cooperate or spend the allotted hour talking about everything but the point at hand. He certainly wouldn't joke about being banned from the kitchen, although his marching orders from his PA have come up once or twice (he has long maintained that she is the only person who can tell him what to do). Now, he is almost like any other man waiting for his girlfriend to make it home safely.

Which she did, twenty minutes later. Whilst we sat in his lounge waiting for her to arrive (the footage of the Interstate was still on the screen, muted) more evidence that Stark had changed emerged. Or maybe he just didn't match up to the picture the media painted of him. He talked a little about the company, how it was improving and how appointing Pepper COO was the best idea he'd ever had. He warned us that the security system was linked to everything in the house and that we shouldn't be alarmed if it was a little more...advanced than we expected (It talks. It doesn't matter if you're warned, it still makes you jump the first time you hear it. However, I will say that it has impeccable manners.)

But mostly he wanted to know about us.

What were our opinions were on the green energy route the company was taking, football vs baseball (we agreed that basketball surpassed them both), the hotel we were staying in...that kind of thing. When Mrs W said that she was actually from Maine rather than New Jersey, he seemed surprised; it turns out that Pepper is actually from Maine and that they were heading out there in a few weeks to visit her grandmother. This spawned a lengthy conversation about Maine which I tried my best to tune out. After fifteen years, there is only so much of your wife's hometown/state that you can take. I'm a city boy, the rural just doesn't appeal to me. My contribution to the conversation didn't move beyond 'the seafood is the best bit about it' and 'the cities are great, but too much green stuff and I start to get withdrawal symptoms.'

As Tony and Mrs W were debating lobster vs clams, the security system announced that Pepper had arrived and would be down in a few minutes. She sneaked in one of the back doors...which Tony was all too happy to rat her out on. Somehow, he managed to hear her footsteps as she entered one of the upstairs rooms (I still can't figure out how he did it, unless after working with her for so long he knows the signs that mean he has to start pretending to work) and informed her that he was normally the one messing with the schedule. Her reply? There's a first time for everything.

The spark that suddenly appeared in his eyes was one I know I've seen in my eyes countless times over the years. (Yes, I can be a sap as well as a cynic. Work that one out.) They could have been any couple happily in the first months of a relationship. Although I don't doubt that they have their issues as well – Tony openly admits that he can be an insufferable jackass, while Pepper only smiles mysteriously when asked if she's a typical fiery redhead – they're clearly in love. And at that point, I found myself agreeing with the pro-Pepperony magazines (Pepper hates that name, Tony thinks it's hilarious) that said this was the one couple who actually had a chance.

Now, here's the punch line. And I hope you all got there before I did because, let me tell you, it was embarrassing. My only saving grace is that _Tony Stark: Resident Genius_ was just as clueless I was.

Pepper, changed for dinner and ready to play apologetic hostess, descends from above. I think she maybe made it three steps before Tony and I were deafened by a squeal from Mrs W.

Oh yeah. You guessed it.

We in the media tend to forget Pepper is only a nickname.

As Tony and I exchanged confused glances, everything started to make sense. Mrs W had only told 'Ginny' that I was interviewing 'some businessman in LA' and she'd be in town. Pepper knew that 'I'm dating Tony Stark' gave off the wrong idea, so she had kept the details of her new boyfriend to a minimum (As I said, Mrs. W pays little attention to the likes of Tony Stark. Especially when there are other celebrities closer to home to be bothered with) and with their hectic schedules, she didn't give a second though to the reporter and his wife coming to dinner when she was meeting up with her best friend the next day. When she'd told Tony about us, our jobs had been covered by 'she's a first grade teacher, he's a journalist. Not tabloids, he does real news...wars, energy, business, that kind of stuff'.

However, what got me was that Mrs. W _knew_ Ginny went by Pepper now. In fact, so did I. She'd mentioned it _years_ ago when writing Christmas cards: "She goes by Pepper now, but she'll always be Ginny to me. It's something to do with pepper spray...I think she met this guy and pepper sprayed him by accident. Or did she only threaten to do it? Either way, the nickname stuck...apparently he's her best friend now. Although to be fair I think there's something else there."

Now, doesn't that say a lot about their relationship? My wife knew it was going to happen years before anyone else. While I don't know if she actually sprayed him, we can safely say that she has him firmly under control. After all, the rest of his PAs lasted three weeks at most.

So yes, I definitely think they have a chance of making it work.

So there you go folks. That's my story from LA. Needless to say, dinner was pretty interesting after that. And playing tourist à la Tony Stark was definitely an experience. We're meeting up with them when they go to Maine to visit Pepper's grandma - Mrs W took it as an excuse to visit her own parents. On the plus side, I'll be able to restock our supply of seafood. Let's just hope all that clean air doesn't kill me.

Oh, and I have it on good authority that Pepper _definitely_ a typical redhead.

You can see the full interview with Tony Stark on pages 16-18. We covered everything from the reinvention of Stark Industries to Pepper as COO, and there are even a few tangents. Mrs W and Pepper even let us publish pictures from our wedding and from LA.

...I have no idea how I'm going to top this next week – Rich :)

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**Well, that turned out differently from what I planned. Oh, and I'm not ragging on Maine. There was actually a back story for Pepper which resulted in her moving to the other side of the country, and Maine happened to be other the opposite end of the map from California. It's partially written, so I might expand it into a fic. Richard's 'voice' is based off a friend (and he always goes on about how posh where his girlfriend lives is) there's a little of Danny from Hawaii Five-0 (he loves New Jersey...everywhere else is inferior) hence the dislike of his wife's hometown.**

**Nx**


End file.
